What To Expect In Pregnancy: First TrimesterAugust 27, 2018

Congratulations on your pregnancy. Those two lines on the home test may the most joyful moments of your life. The first trimester begins on the first day of your last period and lasts until the end of week 12. This means that by the time you know for sure you're pregnant, you might already be five or six weeks pregnant! So how is the road ahead? A full term pregnancy is of about 40 weeks, each with its moments of surprises. Life Maid Easy explains to you, what you can expect in your pregnancy. Let’s start with first Trimester of pregnancy or the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Pregnancy doesn’t actually begin till fertilization of the egg occurs. Most doctors, including Life Maid Easy’s panel of doctors concur that this happens at about 2 weeks after the first day of your last menstrual period. Once that happens, the fertilized egg will travel back to the uterus and implant in the soft lining. At this stage, some cramping/spotting may occur and can be mistaken for a light period. We will describe about that shortly. By the time you see those two lines, you would have covered 6-7 weeks of pregnancy. At this stage your little one is about the size of a pen tip. In the following weeks he/she will be growing rapidly by the end of week 13 will be the size of a peach with most essential systems in place. During this trimester, your baby grows faster than at any other time. By six weeks, a heartbeat can usually be heard and by the end of week 12, your baby's bones, muscles and all the organs of the body have formed. At this point, your baby looks like a tiny human being and is now called a fetus. He or she will even be practising swallowing! Amazing, isn’t it?

How about you? Mothers who blog with Life Maid Easy (www.lmehealthcare.com) have shared their experiences with us. Here we have compiled some of the most common ones.

1. Morning sickness

This one is actually a misnomer. Most mothers, especially first time mothers experience, nausea, vomiting and food aversions any time of the day. Foods which you were addicted to may now be intolerable. Though most women experience it mostly in the mornings, the nausea can “attack” any time of the day. All you want is to make it go away. We can’t promise that, but these things are worth a try:

Pinpoint the times you’re worst affected (e.g. morning, early evening) and think about what could be triggering it. Try eating a snack to boost your blood sugar level before these times for example. Keep food by your bed to nibble on before you get up in the morning. Have a food or drink with ginger in it. Rest - tiredness can make sickness worse. Keep hydrated, but sip drinks to help keep the fluids in. If you can’t keep anything down, let your gynaecologist know ASAP- you might have a severe form of nausea and vomiting called hyperemesis gravidarum, which needs specialist treatment. Good news is it will begin to disappear by the end of the first trimester.

 2.Spotting/bleeding

Spotting of blood in the first trimester of your pregnancy is a common occurrence. The usual cause for spotting in early pregnancy is when the fertilised egg is embedding into the wall of the womb, normally referred to as an ‘implantation bleed’. This usually happens around the time of when your period would normally have been due following conception. Bleeding can also be due to changes occurring to the cervix due to pregnancy hormones. Your cervix gets an increased blood supply and becomes softer so any slight trauma such as sexual intercourse can result in some bleeding. Occasionally, vaginal bleeding can be caused by infection also. A 'threatened miscarriage' is a warning sign for a miscarriage and is diagnosed where there is ongoing bleeding with or without pain but the pregnancy is continuing.

3. Fatigue and Tiredness

Pregnancy tiredness can be all-consuming, like you’re walking through a thick fog for days on end. There is no cure unfortunately. But there are a few things you can try to ease the tiredness.

1. Gentle exercise or just staying active can actually give you more energy.
2. Try to go to bed earlier.
3. Eat well (such as iron-rich foods to prevent pregnancy anaemia, and slow-release energy foods).
4. Hire a maid or ask for help with things like housework.
5. If you’re already a mum, get extra help from the older ones. If they are too young, hiring a nanny would be a good idea as well.

Life Maid Easy provides trained maids and nannies as well.

4. Mood Swings

Progesterone and oestrogen surging through your body in the first trimester can leave you weepy over small things that would not have made you cry in the past. This is normal and hormones are responsible. However, it’s not uncommon for pregnant women to be affected by depression and anxiety. It can happen to women who have never had a previous issue with mental wellbeing. If you find you are feeling unusually low or not like yourself, you might like to ask for help. You might find the first 12 weeks particularly difficult if you’ve had a previous miscarriage, and are terrified of it happening again. Talk to your doctor about what support is available to you, such as counselling sessions. Find out if there are any pregnancy yoga or meditation classes to help you relax, again with guidance of the doctor.

5. Urination, constipation and heartburn

You may notice that you need to urinate more often than you usually did. This often starts in early pregnancy thanks to hormones and continues as your growing womb presses on your bladder. You might also find yourself being thirstier than you usually are. Your body needs extra fluids during pregnancy to support baby's blood circulation, amniotic fluid and your own higher blood volume. Another hormone, relaxin, causes the joints and body muscles to relax to accommodate your growing baby. The down side to this is that it also slows down the intestines. This can lead to constipation. Usually a good diet can help. But you have severe constipation, better consult your doctor who can give you appropriate medication. If you have heartburn, avoiding spicy foods would be a good start. Instead of 3 full meals, have 6 -7 small meals. This will reduce the severity of heartburn and give you energy throughout the day.

We at Life Maid Easy hope we have helped answer most of your questions. We will be talking of weeks 13-28 in our next blog.